Rhapsody of a Veela

Part 70 - The Slytherin Princess

As the leaves turned red, days evolved into weeks where you had still not had a chance to speak with Fred. All the pair of you had between you, for all this time were quick longing glances, as you walked in each your houses formations, marching through the darkened castle halls in between classes. It felt as if you had a human fortress built up around you, made entirely of Slytherin girls fawning over you and Draco as if you had become royalty. The whole school knew, that the two of you were untouchables, none of the rules imposed on them applied to you. No one dared to whisper much of the engagement, but you knew well that it was talked about in the individual houses, and soon they would know the whole of the truth.

You had no chances of hiding from it all, in the Slytherin dungeons you were never let alone unless you retired to your unfairly large dorm room. You tried your best to keep Draco at a distance, all the while not making it completely apparent that his feeling were entirely and hopelessly one-sided.

Quite unexpectedly Pansy had become your friend, the transition from adversary to ally happened so quickly you almost did not know what hit you. You could not even walk half a step without her appearing, sliding her arm in yours, and you supposed she found this change rather logical given how much your status had risen among your new peers. They knew you must be related to Salazar Slytherin, as Pansy herself had uncovered when she had taunted you by conjuring a live snake into your robes pocket the previous school year.

She never apologized for tormenting you for all these years, and fact was you had done your fair share too by transfiguring her head into a pumpkin at some point, and not to mention that time in Umbridge's office when you had transfigured her into a little worm. Perhaps you were even now, although you still could not make yourself trust her.

"Ready for lunch?" she cheerfully asked you, happily unaffected by the rather grotesque dark arts class you had just survived together. Professor Amycus Carrow had made the students practice not only dark magic, but unforgivable curses on what was labelled disobedient students. It was terrible, things had looked rather grim until you had enough – resulting in you threatening Carrow, in front of everyone, to have your father give him a taste of his own of the torture curse.

It was not very well thought out, seeing as you shared the class with Gryffindor students. You very nearly spelled it all out, enough for them to figure it out in no time you supposed. You could see the trail of thought evolve on their faces, they already suspected you after you transferred to Slytherin.

"I'm not feeling hungry" you replied, quite frankly, you were feeling sick.

You supported yourself by leaning onto the cold stone wall, feeling more panick-ridden by the minute. Your old friends, even the ones from D.A, they mistrusted you, and soon they would find a good reason to why.

"You look so pale, are you sure you should not at least have a cup of tea?" Pansy continued persistently, looking at you worriedly as if you had always been her friend – and not simply a filthy half-breed, turned valuable the moment her cowardly ex-boyfriend had turned out to have asked for her hand, allegedly.

"You go on without me, I think I just need a bit of air"

Pansy looked at you, about to protest as wandering the halls alone at any time of the day was no longer permitted, but of course as it was you – the grand princess of slytherin, you could surely do whatever your heart desired. What teacher or guard could possibly dare to reprimand you, knowing the consequences?

"A-All right then, see you in a bit" she smiled, hurrying after the others so she would not get in trouble herself.

You struggled to not sink down onto the floor, your legs felt weak merely by anxiety. You could not get the look of Neville out of your face, as he refused to cower when Carrow aimed his wand at him while illustrating the effects of the cruciatus curse.